Sunday, August 30, 2009

As the snows begin to melt in the northlands and turn the frozen creeks in their deep gorges into raging torrents, another sounds rings down from the mountain passes that heralds preparations for war! The crack of the whip, the shout of the captain, the clanking of arms and armour and the bellow of unspeakable beasts that ought better have been left in their caverns below…

The sound of Orcs assembling in the Gorj pass and rumours of their scouts raiding the outlying communities strikes fear into the hearts the sheppards and farmers in the north of Tria Nomina. Where is the army to defend them!? Not there! As spring approaches the Legions of the Imperiator parade in streets of Praenomen in their finest and receive blessing from the priests at the Temple of Mars.

The hammering of the Dwarven armourers rings throughout their mountain fastnesses. Weapons are honed to a keen sharpness and the warriors are called to arms at the sounding of the Great Horn of Ghillebrae.

The people of Ronarok look to their defences, repairing the walls of their fortified towns and stowing supplies in deep cellars. The Hird rallies to the Raven Banner of King Ingvar behind the great walls of Ludharn.

In the south, great columns of dust rise high into the sky as great masses of warriors and beasts march across the steppes of Grummsh and fertile plains in the lands of the Sapphic League. Orcs accumulate at Otisburg in ominous numbers, while the Warrior women collect at Beauvoir. It seems almost certain the sands will soon be stained with blood!

The Ilfarien look out over the tumultuous waters surrounding their fair isles with a serene calmness. The fleet and army assemble at Dyledele, but will they sail? Will they intervene in the coming conflict or will they let the baser races fight it out amongst themselves?

Country: The Sapphic League of Unity and TogethernessRace: Mixed – WOMEN!!Head(s) of State: Myrah the Mighty, Chairperson of the Council of Empowerment of the Sapphic League of Unity and Togetherness.Commander of the Field Army:Capitol: ThatchertonOther Cities: Bhutto and BeauvoirLocation of Field Army: BeauvoirPrestige Points:Army Size: 24AP

Saturday, August 29, 2009

It’s been a month since I’ve played any Modern-ish DBA and with the October Camapign Weekend rapidly approaching I thought we’d best do some more play-testing and get the rules and forces hammered out.

This time, just as the last game Riak and I got to gether and tried out a game on a DBA “25mm standard” 3’x3 board with 12 stands.

I think we may have tweaked the ranges a bit”Rifles 400 pacesMachineguns 600 pacesField Guns 1200 paces

WE diced for who would be the attacker – and that turned out to be me. So Risk set up some terrain, I diced for a side and got it (choosing to fight along a river, potentially splitting my forces rather than potentially having to fight across it! Although… now that I think about it, fighting across a river wouldn’t be quite so tough in this era – if he had chosen to rush forward and “defend the riverbank” I could have easily parked myself on the opposite side and shot at him until he left… ah well…)

The Tsarists deployment. All of the Rifles are on the west side of the river – deployed opposite my camp. They were obviously hunger and eyeing up all the victuals piled up within!

Overview of the initial deployment from the North. The Bolsheviks are on the Nearest (North) edge of the table.

The Bolsheviks deployed on the East side of the river – formed into two columns with a battery of filed guns between them to support their march across the vast broken ground to their immediate front.

The Bolsheviks deployed on the west side of the river – detailed to protect the baggage.

From the first turn the field guns were exchanging shots – this first round I lost… From the get-go the Bolsheviks were plagued with bad P.I.P. rolls (I had forgotten to put on my “lucky” Budenovka!)

The Tsarist Cossacks tried to slip between the Bolshevik forces along the river but were caught…

…and annihilated!

The Tsarist Infantry approach the Bolsheviks defending the baggage!

Though some on the right of their line made it to the Bolsheviks (and overran the MG company’s position) to many were shot down in the open as they advanced and the Tsarist forces crumbled and routed!

Final dispositions.

It turned out to be a good quick game full of excitement and a bit of back and forth… I think this will work out well for the campaign in October

I have settled on a date for the October Campaign Weekend. It will be taking place on the weekend of 2-4 Ocotober 2009. The weekend will revolve around a semi-historical Russian Civil War campaign set in the "Back of Beyond" (Central/East Asia).

The will potentially be 7 forces available - two Bolshevik, one Tsarist/White Russian, the Army of von Ungern-Sternberg, two Chinese Warlord forces, and (if there's a 7th player) Allied Interventionists (mostly Canadians). We will be using rules based on the DBA 1500-1900 extension (obviously we will be extending the extension to about 1920!) and a campaign system very much like the one we used for the HOTT Campaign in June. Armies will, like DBA, be made up of 12 stands - there will likely be SOME options for each army, but not many....

I imagine it will be much the same as the last campaign:

Friday Night – If there is anyone coming from out of town or anyone that hasn’t had an opportunity to play the rules before hand we could get together Friday night to try out the rules and armies. Saturday (all day) - THE CAMPAIGNSunday(?) - possible continuation of the campaign if it is the desire of the players to do so – I imagine it will likely wrap up Saturday evening.

So far it looks like Chrisitian, Gary, Rick and Jackson will be in attendance, leaving space for, potentially three more!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

These are the Campaign Rules I will be using for the Fall HOTT email Campaign. They are similar to the ones use for the past two campaigns and are based heavily on the Campaign rules presented in Hordes of the Things thought I have borrowed some concepts from the boardgame Diplomacy. (Diplomacy at BGG) and made necessary tweaks here and there to make it all work... Hopefully it all makes sense...

The Campaign will be played on two different levels.

First, the Strategic campaign will be played by using the rules below via email. The players involved will act as the heads of state for the various nations and conduct diplomatic negotiations via email and submit movement orders for their field army once per week (on Mondays).

Second, will be the tabletop battles which will be played out using Hordes of the Things at our regular Wednesday night game night. The strategic email campaign will essentially act as a scenario generator for our weekly games night.

Note anywhere in the rules below where it says “players must dice…” for sieges or movement or whatever, I will be doing that dice rolling in their stead…

STARTING RESOURCESEach Player will begin with a country consisting of three (or sometimes four) regions, one of which is their capitol. The Regions are linked by designated routes, as indicated on the map .

To defend or expand their country players will also start with a Field Army. The Field Army will consist of 24 AP worth of troops.

THE CAMPAIGN YEARThe Campaign will be played out through a number of years. Each year will be broken down into four Seasonal Turns: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

Before each new campaign year Overlords can demand their tributaries supply them with allied contingents to accompany their field army for the year. Then all players will email to me the location of their field army – it must start in a province that the player directly controls. The locations of the Field armies will be posted on the blog before the beginning of the spring turn.

During the Spring, Summer, and Fall turns Field Armies may move about, engage in battles, and lay siege to enemies cities.

At the end of the Autumn season all Field Armies must retire to Winter Quarters. If traveling by sea each stage must be diced for as per the movement rules below.

During the winter player’s tax their people and raise new recruits for their Field Army. Players may add 2AP to their Field Army for each territory under their control, plus an additional 2AP for their Capitol. The maximum size of an army is 24AP. Additional AP cannot be saved or shared, it is lost.

SEASONAL TURNS At the beginning of each seasonal turn players will email me with orders as to where they wish their Field Army to move. This should be done before 8PM on the Monday of each game week. All are then simultaneously moved according to the movement rules below.

MOVEMENTField Armies may move up to two spaces along the designated routes shown on the map .. In some cases the first movement will be determined by the outcome of the previous turn. Field Armies cannot pass through or over an area they do not control unless granted passage by the owning player. All armies which are moving will be moved one space, any armies moving two spaces will make their second movement afterwards if it hasn’t been halted. Armies that “bump into” enemy armies are halted and may move no further that turn.

In cases where two opposing armies are attempting to move into each other’s adjacent territories both will dice – the higher moves first and is the attacker in their opponent’s territory.

When the Field Army moves all elements must move with the Field Army.

A Field Army, which moves by a sea route other than in summer, must dice for each sea movement stage. A score of 1 indicates that it has been caught in a storm and will roll d6 and lose 2AP times the score in the storm. The first element lost must be mounted troops, if any are present. (The Elves – who are the masters of the sea will use a d8, all others d6)

As an alternative to moving a player my elect to “Defend the Realm” in which case they make no movement until all other players have moved one space – they may then move one space to meet an invading army that has moved into the defenders territory.

SUPPLYA player’s Field Army is in supply if it is either in or next to a province controlled by either himself or another player that permits him to be supplied. If at the end of any turn (before compulsory moves are made – which are technically part of the next turn anyway) a Field Army is out of supply the player dices and loses 2AP times its score to hunger disease and desertion.

GIVING BATTLEWhen two armies meet it should be determined who is the attacker and who is the defender. In most cases the army moving into the territory is the attacker. In cases where both armies have moved into the same region at the same time the defender is the player owning the territory or the player allied with the player owning the territory. In the case of a Field Army moving into an area to relieve a siege the relieving army is the defender and the besieging player is the attacker.

After the attacker and defender are determined the defending Field Army has three options:1) to engage the attacker in battle2) to retire into the locations stronghold and stand a siege3) retreat away to an adjacent location and stand a siege without the presence of the Field Army.

The exception to this is when an army arrives to relieve a siege in which case the “Attacker” (the army currently besieging the region) has the option of retiring away to an adjacent location, the “defender” (the army arriving to relieve the siege) must engage the attacker in battle if the attacker wishes to stay.

If it is not specifically spelled out in the movement orders from the head of state what is to be done in any eventual outcome, the general on the ground (they local players commanding the army on the tabletop) will make a decision.

If the Defender (or attacker in the case of a siege being relieved) decides to retreat away from the location it is treated as a compulsory move (just as losing a battle) and the movement counts as the Field Armies first movement of the following seasonal turn.

If the defender decides to engage the attacker in battle it is fought on the tabletop using the Hordes of the Things battle rules.

Only the player owning the location, if involved, will have a stronghold on the table.

PARTICIPATION BY ALLIED CONTINGENTS Allied contingents that accompany an Overlords army are deployed at the same time as their overlord’s army as part of the Overlords army. Though they are considered part of the Overlords army, the owning player still controls their movements on the battlefield. PIPs must be expended to move them as per normal. Elements of an allied contingent cannot form movement groups with elements of the main army or any other allied contingent.

MULTIPLAYER BATTLESIt is possible that more than two armies would end up in the same territory during the same season. If all players agree this can be played as a Big Battle game where all armies are deployed on the table at the beginning of a battle. Otherwise two primary antagonists should be determined. They will be deployed on the table at the beginning of the game and the rest of the armies do not arrive until later. Each army not deployed on the table at the beginning of the game will dice each turn on their sides bound and will arrive when they score 6. Then up to 6AP of that army will arrive in a single element frontage column at the table edge best representing their map route to the battlefield relative to the main protagonists. Further elements can thereafter be deployed in a similar manner at the cost of 1 PIP per element. If an army does not arrive before the battle ends, and their ally has lost, a second battle may be played out between the full army of the late arriving army and the surviving enemies (elements will be recovered before the second battle takes place).

RESULTS OF A BATTLE The tabletop battle is fought until ended as specified in the battle rules. The losses of allied players are added together when determining whether the side is defeated. Secondary Armies that have not yet arrived do not count towards the sides total AP. As soon as they arrive the full strength of the army is added to all allied forces for the purposes of determining whether the side is defeated – regardless of how many have actually yet arrived on the tabletop.

Loss of a main protagonist’s general or stronghold is penalized by the further loss of an additional 4AP from his Field Army in addition to those destroyed during the battle. This simulates desertion by demoralized troops. The may be diced for and rallied/recovered just as units destroyed in battle as below.

Elements that leave the table and ensorcelled magicians return to the Field Army after the battle.

Elements destroyed by combat are diced for after the battle to see if there are enough survivors to rally, regroup and reconstitute the unit. On a 5+ the stand returns to the Field Army immediately, otherwise it is lost. This roll is modified by the following:

+1 if you won the battle+1 if the battle took place in a territory you owned at the beginning of the game.

A Hero still ensorcelled at the end of the battle must also make a roll (modified as above) – on a 6+ they escape the clutches of their captor on their own, otherwise they are taken to the bespelling magician’s nearest stronghold, and cannot be recruited back or its AP used again unless voluntarily released by it’s captor, rescued by the capture of that stronghold, or desorcelled during battle at that stronghold.

If the player owning the province fought over is defeated, the province and it’s stronghold are captured by the opposing main protagonist without any further siege.

A defeated Field Army must retreat to another of it’s own provinces. If it cannot it may retire to the province of an ally that permits it to do so. If it cannot do either it is destroyed. The retirement move is considered a compulsory first movement segment of the following turn – or part of the Field Armies retirement to winter Quarters in the case of a defeat in an Autumn turn.

After a battle, each player gains one prestige point for each AP his troops have destroyed or forced to recoil or flee off-table in excess of those of his own elements that have been destroyed or forced to recoil or flee off-table. This is done BEFORE rolling for recovery of troops. A player who captured an enemy stronghold during the battle or whose troops destroyed an enemy’s General gains an additional 4 prestige for each such instance.

STANDING A SIEGEIf the defender elects not to fight a battle the province’s stronghold is besieged. To determine the outcome of the siege the attacker dices. He must score 6 to capture a stronghold in which an enemy Field Army is present, or 5+ in an enemy Field Army is not present. If a captured stronghold contains the defender’s Field Army, the whole army is treated as though it was destroyed in battle – all elements may be diced for as per units lost in a battle above and any survivors must retire just like an army defeated in battle.

If a besieger fails to capture the stronghold he loses 2AP of his choice from his own Field Army (not an allied contingent). The Siege continues next season unless winter intervenes or the besieging army moves or is defeated in battle. The score needed for capture reduces by 1 each season the siege lasts. A Field Army that has accepted a Siege can sally out in it’s next turn to give battle, but not retreat without battle.

TRIBUTARY RULERSA player can ask at any time to become the tributary of another, who, if he agrees, becomes his overlord. A tributary cannot invade another country without the consent of his overlord and must at the beginning of each new year provide an allied contingent (of up to 6AP) to accompany his overlords army for the year if ordered to do so. Neither can attack the other while the relationship lasts.

A player whose capitol is taken normally automatically becomes a tributary of the conqueror. The tributary retains control of his capitol and any other provinces yet remaining to him. If however his race is completely inimical to the conqueror’s he is instead knocked out of the game. If so, his field army disperses and his remaining provinces become independent until successfully besieged. Field Armies cannot enter or pass through such an independent province except to besiege it.

If a tributary’s capitol is subsequently captured by a different player, he becomes tributary of that player instead, the same rules for inimical races applying

A Player who himself is or becomes tributary can retain or acquire tributaries of his own, and can order these to provide a contingent o support his own field army or provide a substitute contingent for his own overlord. A player cannot have two overlords.

A player whose overlord loses his own capitol or two consecutive field battles can renounce their tributary status and regain his independence.

CEDING TERRITORIESA play may cede territory to another player this may only be done over the winter and must be done before initial dispositions are declared for the spring. Players cannot cede their capitols to any others, nor may they cede territories without the consent of their Overlord.

VICTORYWhen the time limit has been reached, each player counts as his score the prestige points he has gained in battles, 6 points for each province now directly under his personal control, and 4 points for each of his direct tributary’s provinces. A player who is knocked out of the game before then gets no points for provinces, but retains his prestige points.

Country: The Sapphic League of Unity and TogethernessRace: Mixed – WOMEN!!Head of State: Myrah the Mighty, Chairperson of the Council of Empowerment of the Sapphic League of Unity and Togetherness.Commander of the Field Army:Capitol: ThatchertonOther Cities: Bhutto and Beauvoir

Country: The IlferienRace: Ilferien (Elves)Heads of State: Consuls Rhalasa and SundiasenCommander of the Field Army:Capitol: MeliteleOther Cities: Anasterele, Wynstrele, Dyladele

Country: ToctlandRace: DwarvesHead of State: King Malaius MacDooglegCommander of the Field Army: General Gilgidi MacAuslinCapitol: GhillebraeOther Cities: Weinglenn, Toctglenn

This fall I am running a Hordes of the Things campaign for friends both near and far. It will kind of work on two different levels.

First the Strategic campaign will be played by friends who do not live in Saskatoon. They will act as the heads of state for the various nations involved and conduct diplomatic negotiations via email and submit movement orders for their field army once per week (on Mondays).

Second will be the tabletop battles which will be played out by those that do live in and around Saskatoon at our regular Wednesday night game night. The strategic email campaign will essentially act as a scenario generator for our weekly games night.

I’m just working on a good copy of the map right now and sorting out who is playing which nation. Stay tuned for regular campaign updates! The map will be done in the next couple days, armies deployed next week, and the first campaign turn begins the following week!!

Oh and the strategic players aren’t going to know who each other are… (all correspondence will be filed through me!). So if you’re playing in the strategic campaign and commenting on this blog – please try to not give away who you are playing!?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Inspired by watching Generation Kill (which Christian leant to me) and the desire to be able to say “I am DONE those!” I finished off the last four 28mm Modern Military figures I have!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

This Quartet of modern Russians are from The Assault Group. I ordered them direct – it was quicker than trying to get them through the local game store and also when ordering direct you get one of each in the set – instead of a blister of 8 with two of each. This happens to finish off the last of the 28mm Modern Military minis I have! These guys have already seen some action - check it out at Savage Timmy's Playhouse

Oh, I do have some more 28mm Modern/Near Future Civillians and Superheros types… but all the Military ones are done. That’s also not to say that I won’t ever add to them – there’s a number of things I’d like to add at some point, but given the moratorium on further figure purchases until next year… that ain’t going to happen any time soon.

I’ve had this figure since the late ‘80’s/Early ‘90’s and I have no idea who manufactuered it or where it even came from!? I so wished I could have found more because I was playing a lot of Twilight:2000 at the time… I should give him a Pinsol bath and repaint him to more closely match my other Cold War Russians.

A fireteam of Canadians. The four with helmets are from Devil Dog Design, the other fellow is from RAFM.

These guys I’ve had since the the late ‘80’s/Early ‘90’s and been used for all sorts of adventures and games – from Twilight:2000 to 40K… This was it for moderns until all the cool new 28mm stuff started coming out… The four on the left are Dr. Who UNIT figures that, I think, were manufactured by FASA in North America…? The four on the right are Morrow Project figures… I’m not sure who manufactured them…

Not Military per se, but 28mm, Modern, and DONE! (and close enough to Military…!) The five on the left are Copplestone Castings, the remaining eight on the right are from The Assault Group.

I’d like to add some more vehicles at some point… a T-72 perhaps, maybe some Soviet APC/IFVs from Sloppy Jalopy - they’d be most handy as they could be used by any number of forces equipped by the Eastern Bloc. Some British Tanks and/or APCs to support the British infantry I have would be nice.

I’d definitely like to finish up the better part of a British Cold War platoon… pick up some more Cold War Russians (more VDV and some Motor Rifles) and some Argentines for them to fight…. I’d like to get some Generic African Militia… and maybe some mercenaries…. More Arabic types… and perhaps some Middle East regulars….

Some day I think I’d also like to model and cast my own Cold War Canadians in 28mm… (since I don’ tthink anyone else is ever going to make any!) but that will be a way off…

Now if only I could finish off the 28mm Modern Civilians and Superheroes! (not to mention all the Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang figures I picked up….). Maybe that should be the carrot – once I’ve finished painting all those I can pick up some more Modern/Cold War Military types!?

Friday, August 21, 2009

This past Sunday my friend Curt came up from Regina and put on a game for me and some of the other locals. John, Christian, and Amanda also played, Mr. Miller showed up later and heckled.

Originally Curt billed the game as a “three musketeers skirmish game” – here is the background he sent:

“Near the border of France and Spain, July 1666…

“The Duc d’Urbanville, a French nobleman, is acting as an emissary for the people of his region to the king of France. He is what some people term “a complex man”; he is a Basque, a Huguenot, a gambler, a rake, a duelist and somehow not surprisingly, a defrocked ex-priest. Nevertheless, due to his high birth, wealth and social station he is also an extremely powerful man, and though hated by many he is courted by the elite of European society.

“Though d’Urbanville carries a Royal Seal giving him great latitude while he makes his way to Paris, he has decided for the sake of security to travel quietly with his son, his household staff and a modest retinue of Scots mercenaries. In order to better facilitate the negotiations with the French king and his papist Cardinal d’Urbanville has brought along several Catholic relics and other gifts to present to the King’s household. D’Urbanville and his party has stopped at a small village with an ancient keep, as it is the final way-stop for quite some distance.

“Nonetheless, the doings of such a man as d’Urbanville has not gone unnoticed… Near to the Keep swords are being sharpened and flintlocks primed with many men vowing that this night the Duc and his household will pay for its many sins.....”

However when he showed up he informed us that it was all actually a movie – directed by some old school director that loved method acting and letting the action play itself out with lots of cameras rolling and we would all be competing to see who got top billing!? The winner would be the player with the most EGO points at the end of the game. Ego were gained by performing great stunts or stunning displays of swordmanship or whatever… there was also bonuses if it was done in front of the main camaera. Some of these points could be “spent” on various things – primarily convincing the director to bring the main camera over to where you were at…

Here’s a few quick pics of the action…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

My Character – the first to storm into the old keep…. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten ALL of the characters names!? We each had a primary objective and a pile of secondary objectives based on our individual characters background. We received ego points if we accomplished said objectives – extra bonuses if done in front of the camera with style! Mine was to steal his gold and the Royal Seal…

This was Christian’s character…. He was out for vengence and had to take out the Duc’s son. He took a little time to get into the game but ended up the overall victor – claiming top billing for the movie!

As I stormed into the keep some of the other players spent EGO points to have the scriptwriter or director send out some of the Duc’s retainers to battle me – you can get tired out (or actually beaten up!) in all the fighting…

It kind of backfired as I called in the camera and skillfully dispatched the foes garnering me a huge pile of EGO points!

Amanda’s Character entered the scene with a rather fabulous stunt – involving swinging down from the tower on a rope – building her EGO considerably – meanwhile my character jumped up on the coach and started battling the driver!

The Driver started driving away but I managed to stay aboard and dispatch the driver!

Then I tried to gain control of the coach while simultaneously duel the man with the blunderbuss sitting on the back – TWICE I failed at this – both times on camera which got the director really mad and reduced my EGO points to ZIP!!

John’s character taking out the Duc’s Assasins (one is already lying in the courtyard below having been kicked off the ramparts when John made his spectacular entrance.

Christian’s Charcter finally joins the action and who should he happen to meet on the ramparts but the Duc’s son – whose cheeks he carved his initials into before throwing him off the roof of the shed – all on camera – boosting him instantly into top billing for the flick! He further blasted our names right off the poster by later kidnapping the Duc's mistress!

Amanda’s character (in blue) dueling with the Duc (in red, of course!) himself. She too was out for vengance as he had ravished her when she was younger… unfortunately the film ran out and she never got to finish him off in this film… perhaps there will be a sequel!!

…and these will be used for Hordes of the Things. There is no call for ninja in the regular DBASamurai army lists. Of course, until I actually get some sort of gen-u-ine historical opponent for the Samurai army – i.e. MORE SAMURI – They’ll probably mostly see use as a HOTT fantasy army. I’ll use the Ninjas as either Lurkers or Sneakers. I also have an Oriental Dragon and an Oni (Ogre Mage - Behemoth)… A lot of my Orcs have a distinctly Eastern/Mongol sort of look to them…

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

On the left is an old Games Workshop/Citadel Minatures Oriental Wizard and on the right is a Ninja from Old Glory. The Wizard I’ve had forever, but just never seemed to get around to finishing him off. The Ninja is brand new – CVT brought a bag as partial payment for the Anglo-Danish I painted for him.

They join a modest group of Oriental Adventurers… Though there shall soon be more!

For one, I have another THIRTY ninjas on the workbench (somehow they’ve bumped the Romans!?). Now I know what you’re thinking “Who needs thirty Ninjas!?” and all I’ve got to say to you is – Who DOESN’T need thirty ninjas!!! I mean you can always add ninjas to just about any setting to make it super-cool!

In addition to the ninjas, CVT ordered me some Old Glory Samurai from WarWeb.com - enough to make a DBA army and a couple left over for skirmishing.

I’ve always wanted a Samurai army… I mean I grew up in the 1980’s; Ran, Shogun, all those damn ninja movies, Groo (not Japanese/samurai per se – but he did have samurai swords…!), AD&D’s Oriental adventures…. (of which I still have my copy – purchased in 1985…). I think the first army I ever wanted to build was Samurai… but they weren’t so easily available at the time…

Anyway… They’re not going to be queue-jumping or anything, but they’re in the pipe…

Sunday, August 16, 2009

As the old saying goes there are three types of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics…

Over on the left there you will see a page element titled 2009 Totals. I originally got the idea from Patricks Hobby Shed. So last year I started keeping track of how many things I’ve painted. It was kind of fun to keep track of how much I actually cranked out.

So this year I added “figures purchased”… This was to keep track of how many toys I actually buy over the year and to be able to compare it to how much I’ve painted.

I’ve been doing pretty good so far – painting far more than I’ve purchased… well… up until a couple weeks ago….

To date I have painted 601 foot, 100 mounted, 2 vehicles, 3 artillery pieces, and 5 buildings or strongholds – these are all for 28mm figures. Up until last week I had purchased 366 foot, 61 mounted, 3 vehicles, 6 guns. A fair chunk of them are GW plastic figures I picked up off of ebay.

I’ve finally updated the figures purchased after the big ancients sale at Rafm and an order to the the Sentry Box. I’ve now, to date, purchased 825 foot, 142 mounted, 9 Vehicles, and 7 artillery pieces…. Oi! If I manage to not buy any more stuff this year I think I’ll be able to catch up and paint more than I’ve purchased by the end of the year. Of course since I started the year with a considerable amount of unpainted led and plastic I was hoping to have painted a lot MORE than I purchased…

The totals also don’t include figures I have received in trade – for either stuff I’ve traded away or in trade for figures I’ve painted for others… should it? Should I also keep track of figures I trade away then? Included in the painted totals are figures I’ve painted in trade for figures received…

I’ve seen some others that do similar things, like Neldoreth’s at An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields. He’s taken a slightly different approach that I really like – instead of purchased and painted he’s just kept track of Unpainted Figure Totals. I’d like to do something similar, perhaps an annual figures painted vs. figures unpainted total – broken down by period/scale/etc.

First I played Amanda – Chris wanted to watch a game to help remind him of the rules, and Amanda wanted to play her games first so she could go to sleep earlier.

As it turned out the Sapphists were attacking. On the hunt for slaves and appropriate Breeders – Where better to look than among the manly men of Rohan!? King Theoden, however heard of the approaching army and rode to stop them as they crossed the Great River into the Wold…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

The Sapphists advance towards Rohan across the Great River…

Amanda advancing her troops.

The Shieldwall of Rohanian Warriors advances to defend the River while King Theoden leads a column of Riders across the river to flank the Sapphists.

Amanda contemplating the tactical difficulties of attacking across a river.

The column of Riders makes it across and makes contact with some Centauress outriders on the right of the Sapphists line. The Centauresses are quickly driven off!

The Sapphists archers drive off the reserve of Riders that galloped to Rohan’s own right flank where it looked like the Saphists might try and force their own way across.

Queen Libby and the Elven Sorceress Amandalyll move to meet the Riders Threatening to roll up their flank. It is an epic battle.

The archery of the Sapphists wipes out one unit of Riders and continues to force the others back – they try to force their way across.

It is not necessary because the enchantress enscorcels King Theoden while her queen ans entourage exact a heavy toll on the King’s Riders… the Army of Rohan breaks and routes off the field in panic!

GAME TWO

Next Amanda battle Chris – and this time it was the Sapphists defending their lands against an invasion by the Uruk-hai of Isengard.

The Sapphists arrayed for battle – ready to defend their lands from the forces of tyranny and lack of hygiene.

Chris and his army of Uruk-hai on the warpath!

The lines steadily advance to meet each other on the hill that dominates the center of the battlefield. The Sapphists line is broken up and slowed by ambushing lurkers behind their lines.

This too was a short battle – Queen Libby fell, but the Sapphists carried on as they had already wiped out two units of Uruk-hai pike and felt that all was not yet lost.

When these Centaurs were wiped out by the magic of Saruman, however, the Sapphists left the field and retired deep into their wooded realm.

GAME THREE

Finally Chris and I duked it out – he was attacking so I set up the river again and the Uruk-hai attacked at the Fords of Isen..

The Rohan sheildwall advances to defend the fords.

The Army of Isengard advances spreading ashadow of doom over the land!

Scouts and Trolls try to force their way across at the Ford, but are repulsed.

The rest of the Isengard line wades the river. A unit of Riders are defeated on the banks of the River Isen!

The tide quickly turns, however, and the Uruk-hai are slaughtered where they stand!

So we each won one game…

Then on Wednesday Chris and I hooked up with Christian for lunch and then some DBA action. Chris got to try out his new Anglo-Danish Army against some ferocious Vikings played by Christian

The Anglo-Danish deployed astride a river… apparently “attacking” the Vikings!?

The Vikings make their first moves… The main line advances towards the Anglo-Danish on their side of the river, while another force crosses the river to deal with the others…

The Vikings apparently are of the “Best-defence-is-a good-offence” school of thought!

Making their way across the river.

English skirmishers harass the Viking lines.

General Knudsen advances his troops!

The lines finally meet with a thunderous crunching or shattered shields and rended flesh.

There was much shoving back and forth… and then I had to leave… I never did get to see the end of the battle as I had to nip off to an afternoon meeting. I know Chris told me but I can’t remember how it turned out… I know there was much more shoving back and forth and it was a close one in the end… I think the Vikings won… but I’m not really sure…

Anyway the Anglo-Danes went home with Chris to battle his Normans and I have to paint some more for myself…

But first I’m going to finish off the Romans – I made some headway while watching episodes seven and eight of Season Two last night, tonight we shall finish the series, and I should be pretty close to finishing the army….

Tomorrow my friend Curt is in town and is going to be putting on a Swashbuckling Musketeer game of some sort… stay tuned for the report of that as it’s sure to be a gooder!